Max Verstappen once again has to answer questions about his Red Bull F1 future, as he and Yuki Tsunoda reflects on what happened in Bahrain.
It didn’t take much long for media to start another ‘Verstappen to leave Red Bull’ storyline after recent comments by Helmut Marko after Bahrain GP. The Dutchman ended up sixth after struggle in Bahrain, with Tsunoda finishing ninth to score a double, but it was not a happy mood still.
Sky Sports reported about discussions between Marko and Verstappen’s manager after the race, relating to the lowly finish and bad pit stops. This kicked-off a storm, where Verstappen was linked to as Aston Martin move along with Alpine – where the former was raised by Ralf Schumacher.
The German shared more of his opinion rather than a potential news. The press conference threw Ferrari in the chatter too, but Verstappen was calm to tackle and answer the same way he has been doing off-late with such questions. He stuck to the ‘more focused on improving the car’ line.
However, Verstappen did address the high-level discussions that potentially took place after Bahrain, where he termed it as a normal conversation after a grand prix. Tsunoda noted about the mood being down during briefing, but that was normal considering the result they had.
Both Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly were asked about the recent talks as well. The Spaniard would welcome Verstappen in the team, but he shot it down terming it as ‘unlikely’. The Frenchman, though, pushed himself to be a champion in 2026, taking the amusing route to answer the question.
Future talk again –
Verstappen: “I don’t know, to be honest. I just keep working, keep trying to improve the car. Naturally, Bahrain wasn’t a great weekend for us. I think we were all pretty disappointed with that. We just keep on trying to improve the car, come up with new ideas to try on the car. The competition is tough. That’s how I go about my weeks – just trying to improve the situation. I think just focus on commentating, I’ll focus on driving. Then you don’t need to think about any other scenarios. [Even Ferrari?] I don’t know.
“I mean, honestly, a lot of people are talking about it, except me. Like I said before, I just want to focus on my car, work with the people in the team. That’s the only thing that I’m thinking about in Formula 1 at the moment. I’m very relaxed. I think we had really good chats in the last few weeks already — with the people about the car. I think we are all very much aligned. Like I said, we’re just trying to improve the situation. It doesn’t change anything. So just keep going.”
High-level chat in Bahrain –
Verstappen: “I think, to my knowledge, they were having just a conversation about everything — which I think is allowed. Now, if someone picks up on it, people can always see it in their own way — how people are discussing things. But I think we were all left frustrated with the result and, of course, the things that went wrong in the race. I think that’s where my manager Raymond and Helmut spoke about it — and even Christian came along as well. So they all had a conversation. I think that should be allowed. We all care at the end of the day. We care about the team, we care about the people, we care about results. I think that’s quite normal.”
Tsunoda: “Maybe in their side [there were high-level talks], I was not involved. I mean in the post-race briefing…slightly…obviously the mood was not the happiest in the engineering room. But that briefing is for limitation, whatever we felt throughout the weekend, we just try and share. I don’t know what high-level chat he [Max] is talking about, if its that then probably [it is] less happy mood than usual. Maybe he had a different meeting with them.”
Struggles –
Verstappen: “Yeah, well, we struggled a bit with the balance. Entry to mid-corner balance is not where I want it to be. So we’ll try to fix that and improve that. How much we can fix that here, I don’t know, but hopefully the tarmac also helps a bit with that.”
Welcome Verstappen at Aston Martin –
Alonso: “I don’t think so, as I have a contract for next year. But I see the rumours as very good for the team. As you said before, the world champion is sometimes linked with some other teams and a possible departure from Red Bull. And the teams that are being mentioned are Mercedes, Aston Martin, and Ferrari – as your colleague said. So this shows the project that we are in and the future that this team has. As I said last year when I extended the contract, I will drive for as long as I feel fast and competitive and the team needs me behind the wheel. But my contract is much longer than my racing career, so I will stay with this team for many, many years in a different role. If that means we can win a World Championship even when I’m not behind the wheel, I will still feel very proud of the project. Yes [I would have him], but it’s unlikely to happen.
“[My decision to stay at Aston Martin?] I mean, it’s not about right or wrong decisions. You make your choices. When I left Alpine, I thought that I would not fight for a World Championship there. They may do in the future, but not in the short term – and I don’t have a long-term future, I will not race forever. So in the period when my racing career is active, I thought Aston Martin was a better place. I did enjoy 2023, being competitive. And I do enjoy now the process that we are in and the building of this team of the future. I sometimes say we are not the team of the present – and that’s what I would like to have, because in the future I don’t know if I will be behind the wheel. But I will do my best to help us achieve the best results as soon as possible.”
Gasly: “I’ve said next year I can be world champion. So yeah, I believe Alpine has got what it takes to fight at the front of the grid.”
Here’s Christian Horner on tariff situation
